The Lord will provide

Ya'll, I just have to chuckle this morning! Just last night I was sitting across the table from my mom, telling her how well we did at the lemonade stand and how we had gotten a generous donation from some friends. I was saying that God is so good, but that it was baffling to me the amount of money and recent encouragement of people who have been telling us to let them know if we have any financial needs for the adoption, because we are in the process of waiting right now. We have decided to do some fundraising as we wait so that when money is due, we will be prepared. I literally said, "I don't get it. I wonder what he is preparing us for."

After all, I thought we would break even on the lemonade stand, maybe even lose money. Our main goal was to instill the love and desire to serve and put faith in action in our children through that lemonade stand. I was not worried about making a profit towards our adoption for that particular fundraiser. I know that God always provides what we need, when we need it.

Well, that is apparently what he did. I woke up to am e-mail reminding me of $1050 in post placement fees that are needed. These fees are used for our social worker to conduct 3 post placement visits once our son is home. They are required by Ethiopia and should be collected before the home study is complete. We got so wrapped up in the home study, that this slipped our minds as a fee that was due.

BUT, what do you know, just this past week, God provided that money. When I had no clue what he was preparing us for, HE KNEW. He is so good y'all! He always has our back in this adoption, despite the ups and downs that we have faced already in this process. I love the name for God in the book of Genesis, Jehova-Jireh, which means, "The Lord will provide." And oh, how he does!

Do you remember that BBQ fundraiser we had last year, where he provided the money we needed at the time to the EXACT dollar? Why do I ever doubt my God?

I just had to share that. To remind you, to remind myself, that he cares. If he has called us to something in faith, HE WILL PROVIDE!

Philippians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Lemonade Stand Fundraiser Recap

What a great day we had at our lemonade stand & bake sale fundraiser.  It was HOT but we are so glad we did it! It was so wonderful to see our family & friends come together to bake, host, set up, sell, buy, donate, encourage and support us. All of the kids had a great time serving. They worked hard and really felt like they accomplished something awesome, which they did.

We are so excited to announce that our little stand made a whopping......

(Not pictured are Tyler and Katy Mullins and Landry, Eli & Cooper Veuleman, 

who all helped but left before we took the picture. Also, our sweet neighbor Sage who made the cake pops.)

And actually a $20 donation came in after we took this picture, so we really raised $836!

Wow, who would have thought that we would make that much money from a lemonade stand! Between lemonade and sweet sales, t-shirt sales and donations, God blew this lemonade stand out of the water. I wish you could have seen the kids faces when we announced how much money we made. They all erupted in clapping and cheering. It was a great moment and we made sure to stop and praise God afterwards for his faithfulness. Praying this will be a great family memory and one that encourages them to continue to give and serve others.

THANK YOU so much to everyone who came out today and showed your support. We hope you loved your goodies and we want you to know that we love each and every one of you! You guys are so generous and supportive and we would not be where we are without your kindness. We are so thankful for our support system that God has blessed us with.

Here are a few pictures from the day. I wish I could have gotten one of everyone! But seriously, I am thankful for each person who showed up today. It meant the world to see you guys go out of your way to stop by.

The Butler crew were our first customers of the day!

Even the firemen made a stop!

SO MUCH FUN! I will never look at lemonade the same again:) 

Ice Cold Lemonade

It's summer time and it is hot outside here in Louisiana! When I think of summer, I think of lots of wonderful things, but something that I have always thought of is lemonade stands. I always love driving by cute kiddos selling cups of delicious sweetness in their driveway. The excitement on their faces when you actually buy some from them, or better yet, tell them to keep the change, is PRICELESS!

As I was talking with my kids about Brother recently, I started to think about how they could be more involved in this adoption process. Brother is a part of our everyday conversations. We read books about Ethiopia, listen to African music, pray for Brother, and talk about orphans on a regular basis. But I wanted them to have the chance to make a difference for Brother themselves. That is when a lemonade stand popped in my head.

With that said, the McGinty kids and their cousins are so excited about hosting their very 1st Lemonade Stand and Bake Sale on Saturday, June 28th from 8 a.m. -12 p.m. to raise money towards Brother's Adoption. We will be serving delicious ice cold lemonade, cookies, brownies, Rice Krispie treats, muffins and cake pops! We will even have our movie theatre popcorn machine popping out fresh delicious popcorn. To make it even more fun, we will have a bounce house set up for your kiddos (and you if you are brave) to enjoy.

Local peeps, would you consider driving by and supporting our little crew? I know with each new customer, they will be so excited and proud. It has been so much fun discussing why we are doing this with them and seeing them understand that even though they are little, they can make a difference in the world and for Brother. That God calls us all to care for others and their little hands and hearts are just as important as a grown ups in the Kingdom.

1 Timothy 4:12 says:

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity."

We hope to see you Saturday! Our littles will save a cup of lemonade just for you. The address is posted on the invite below.

May 2014 Update

I cannot believe it is May already. We have been in this adoption process for 1 year and 3 months and this month makes 6 months since we have been on the waiting list for a referral. For a long time there was no movement in Ethiopia, referrals were at a stand still. Thankfully, things started rolling again this month. I have to tell you that for a while there, I did not think we could hang on. With the constant hope of movement, but none occurring, we strongly prayed about and considered switching countries as nothing was happening.  But, we felt like we needed to hang on a little longer and then the movement started again. Small movement, just 3 referrals, but movement none the less.

For a few months, I was an emotional wreck and I literally wrestled with God over what we should do. The questions of discernment and wisdom vs faith were hard hitting and I often found myself in tears and crying out to God, wondering why he would bring us this route if this was never going to happen. You gotta go through the valleys sometimes and I feel like emotionally we went through one, but I feel like I grew in that valley.

Thankfully, lately I am much more at peace, even though I wish things were moving a little faster. I know there are so many children waiting in the orphanages and that thought just makes me sad as I know there are families waiting. But, you have to go through the red tape and paperwork has to be done appropriately before these kiddos can be matched. Please just continue to pray for the children.

 I find myself praying for our boy a lot more often and feeling like one day this is really going to be our reality...a family of 6. It is still somewhere off in the distant future, but everyday is one day closer. While we cannot share where we stand on the wait list on social media, I can share privately with friends and family, so send me a message if you would like to know how we are progressing.

As we continue to wait, we are finishing up our paperwork for our 2nd home study (remember we had to do a completely new one). We will have our interview portion on May 19th. We already had our first home visit and it went great. Once we knock out this home study, we REALLY need to get started on applying for some grants. We have been thinking about it for a while now, but it involves a lot of paperwork and with the paperwork we already have, we just have not had a chance to get working on it. But, that is next on our to do list.

I will also be announcing a new fundraiser soon. Nothing big and fancy, just small and simple. Something God kind of laid on my heart and I decided to get crafty with it. Waiting for supplies to come in and then I am getting busy. Hopefully before the end of May I will share it with you all.

Thanks for hanging in this loooooooong journey with us. It's nice to know we are not doing this alone. The support and encouragement from all of you truly helps. Also, I must say, while I know this journey is so long and I am sure seeing what we are going through to complete this adoption has been a discouragement for some, I still stand firm in saying that this will be worth it. Orphan Care needs to happen, believers need to step up and answer the call to defend the fatherless!  If not us, then who?
I love this song below by Matthew West. "God is calling us to do SOMETHING"

April 1, 2014 update

Today we received our monthly update. I fully expected to scroll down and see the same wait list number as every other month. I did a double take and even e-mailed the agency to make sure it was not a typo. We did see some significant movement, however, there was only one family matched with a waiting child in March, but other than that, no new referrals were given last month. So, while I am glad to bump down the wait list, the fact that there were still no new referrals is looming over me and every other parent who is waiting.

Also, we were informed by our case worker that our home study expires in July. No biggie, we will just update it (totally expected). Well, turns out a new law has been implemented that requires international adoption home studies to be done by a Hague Accredited agency. The agency we used last year, was not Hague Accredited, which means we need to find a new agency to do our update (totally not expected). While that is not ideal, it can be done.

So yesterday, I emailed the new agency and got a quick and friendly response. Yes, they can help, but unfortunately it cannot be simply "updated"since it is from another agency. We will have to do a completely NEW home study and it will cost us around $3000. I read those words and my heart sank a little, ok a lot. That means that our home study that we worked so hard on last year is no longer good enough. Yet another road block on this journey.

My head starts to spin at the thought of all that paperwork again, all that money. My temples tighten and I am whisked away into worry and doubt. I stayed awake for several hours last night as I thought about paperwork and fundraisers. The break from all of it was so good, but there is no more time for rest. I finally made myself go to bed and prayed that God would give me a sense of peace, a sense of direction.

I woke up with a deep thirst for the Word. Most days I wake up with a deep thirst to hit the snooze button. I pulled my tired body out of bed and found myself in Psalm 143:

vs 5-8:

"I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
I spread my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land

Answer, me quickly, O Lord;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul."

I am reminded that I am not the only one who has struggled with figuring out God's plan. I am reassured that God hears me, he knows where my heart is right now. While I keep begging him to just write out the answers in the clouds (I mean He is God after all), I know that when He is ready, He will reveal to us what needs to be revealed. For now, I am learning (or trying to at least) to spread my hands wide open, ready and willing to receive whatever He has for us, whatever path He wants us to walk down. I think about how faithful God has been in the past and I know he will continue to be faithful. That doesn't mean that I will always understand him or his ways, but He is working. He is working in my life, and he is working in this adoption. For now, my prayer is simply this:  "Show me the way I should go Lord, for to you I lift up my soul."

We so appreciate your prayers as we continue to walk this out. You can pray specifically for the following:

-Ethiopian Government to start processing paperwork on these children

-For all of the kids stuck in the system waiting for paperwork. There is a great need for adoption, but without paperwork, there is nothing we can do to meet that need.

-For God to be clear with what direction He wants us to take and for us to be open and receptive to His leading.

-For my heart. I am frustrated and aching for some peace in this.

-For God's provision as we now have to raise more money than we initially thought.

-And always for our boy: protection, health, favor and a sense of God's love with him.

* Also, I will be raising the amount of money that we need to raise on our thermometer to reflect these recent changes. There was actually another increase in fees with our placing agency that I will explain in another blog post. We just found out about it today along with our new wait list number.

Thankful in the Tough Stuff

I have been an emotional mess lately. When we started this process over a year ago, I knew it would be hard, but I never anticipated it being this emotionally draining. I never anticipated being so high on a wait list and moving 1 spot in 4 months. Now, we were warned that things would not likely go as planned, but I guess I thought they would go at least a little closer to my plan. Silly me!

It seems as if there is no end in sight some days. I am fine waiting for 2 or 3 years if progress was being made. But with nothing happening lately in the referral department, I can't help but be upset and confused about if we took the right path. There is nothing we can do, nothing our agency can do. It lies in the hands of a foreign government and that is frustrating my friends!

Yesterday was one of those days, one of those days where I could not help but let the emotions run out of my tear ducts. My whole body ached and I felt like I was coming down with the flu because honestly, I am exhausted. Exhausted emotionally, exhausted mentally and sometimes exhausted spiritually. We KNOW God called us to adoption and we KNOW He is pruning us through this process but oh my it is tough.

I sat at the kitchen table last night with my husband, my face in my hands and just cried. Cried because I feel so helpless, so confused, so unsure about our direction. My husband, gentle and reassuring, looked at me with compassion and said, "We are ok. We have so much to be thankful for. We aren't the ones having to decide if we should give our child up for adoption or not, we are the ones who are alive and healthy wanting to adopt." That man, he always knows just what to say. He calms me! He was so right. Shout out to God for blessing me with a husband who knows how to handle me and speaks TRUTH to my weary heart.

Adoption comes from such a place of heartache and despair. The birth parents, the children, they are the ones who truly go through the trenches. I am not saying that I do not have the right to feel what I am feeling, because this is seriously the hardest thing I have EVER been through and I know our deep trenches will come when our child is home and we are dealing with the ramifications of the past! But, sometimes I get so wrapped up in how I am feeling that I forget to be thankful, even for this situation that we are in today.

Today, I am not having to decide if I should give my child up because I cannot afford to take care of them, today I am not on my death bed with HIV saying goodbye to my children, today I am not jumping from foster home to foster home praying for stability and love, today I am not enduring abuse or neglect or malnutrition. Today, I am simply waiting to love on someone who may be going through those situations themselves or seeing their parents go through them in some form or another.

I opened up Jesus Calling today and read this:

"Casually despising my sovereignty"...ouch! I know God is sovereign and his timing and plan will prevail, but I am guilty of this one peeps!

While my emotions are running high because we are trying to seek direction and guidance from HIM and that is HARD sometimes, I am thankful! I am thankful because I know my God is faithful! He will give us peace, he will guide our steps, he will place the child who needs to be in our home, in our home. I cannot imagine going through this or any other hard place in life without God. My relationship with him is what I cling to in times like this.

Hebrews 6:19 says:
"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."

I know that no matter what, no matter how this adoption turns out, my hope is in the Lord and I want to glorify him despite circumstance and emotion.  I am firm and secure in knowing that as we continue to seek him for direction, HE IS THERE. I cannot promise that I won't have any more emotional melt downs. In fact, I can pretty much guarantee you that I will. Oh, this road ahead is still so long. But,  I know He holds every tear drop in his hands (Psalm 56:8), and some days, I am just thankful for being able to cry and release some of these emotions I am feeling.

Today, I am choosing to be thankful. Thankful that he called us to adoption, thankful that he is growing and changing my heart to look more like his, thankful that I have to be fully dependent on him because there is no way I could make it through this without him (and my husband). Being thankful is a choice, one that I have to sometimes sit and ponder on, but when I focus on the gratitude, my perspective changes and joy wells up inside.

So, what about you? What are you thankful for?

FAQ: Do you know who your child is?

I get asked this question a lot. It would seem like since we have been walking this journey for over a year now, we would know WHO we are adopting. I am sure that because I say "my boy" "our son", etc, it gives the idea that we have seen this child's face before, know a little of his history. But, we have not seen him and hold no information on who he is or where he is. The way this process works is that once all of your paperwork is complete (ours took 11 months to finish), you are placed on a waiting list. The waiting list is for a referral of a child who falls into the parameters you have listed that you are wishing to adopt. For us, that is a boy, anywhere between the ages of 0-6.

How long must we wait to see who our son will be? Well, that is a tough question to answer. Our agency has told us that there is around a 2 year wait from the time we got on the wait list (December of 2013) until we could potentially get matched with a child. That time frame can change. Lately, things have slowed down BIG TIME in Ethiopia as far as processing paperwork in country goes. I foresee our wait actually being longer than 2 years at this rate. When we started this adoption journey, I would have never imagined that it would take this long, but it is what it is and we are trying to just roll with it. As mentioned before, every month as referrals are given to families at the top of the wait list, we move closer to the top. Some moths there are a few referrals and some months, like lately, there are none. The first of the month is always filled with anticipation to see if we have made any progress on the wait list.

Although we do not know who he is, what he looks like, or where he is, we still love him. We love him because God has already placed him in our hearts. He started in 2012 carving out a place for this little guy and our love only grows stronger over time as we pursue and wait for him. We anxiously await the day that we will open the computer screen and see his face, the face that already has a place in this family. I know that once we do see him, my heart will just burst with even more love as I lay my eyes on the little boy who we have prayed over and called Brother for so long. Oh, how I long for that day!